Schools need to be “brave enough” to talk about knives, Sky News has been told, as the killer of Sheffield teenager Harvey Willgoose is sentenced today.
The 15-year-old was stabbed outside the school canteen at All Saints Catholic high school by a fellow pupil in February this year.
His killer, who was also 15 and cannot be identified for legal reasons, had brought a 13cm hunting knife into school.
Following Harvey’s murder, his parents Caroline and Mark Willgoose told Sky News they wanted to see knife arches in “all secondary schools and colleges”.
“It’s 100% a conversation, I think, that we need to be empowered and brave enough to have,” says Katie Crook, associate vice principal of Penistone Grammar School.
The school, which teaches 2,000 pupils, is just a few miles away from where Harvey was killed.
After being contacted by the Willgoose family, it has decided to install a knife arch.
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The arch – essentially a walk-through metal detector – has been described as a “reassuring tool” and “real success” by school leaders.
“We’re really lucky here that we don’t have a knife crime problem – but we are on the forefront with safeguarding initiatives,” says Mrs Crook.
“I didn’t really think we needed one at first,” says Izzy, 14. “But then I guess at Harvey’s school they wouldn’t think that either and then it did actually happen.”
Joe, 15, says he did find the knife arch “intimidating” at first.
“But after using it a couple of times,” he says, “it’s just like walking through a doorway”.
“And it’s that extra layer of, like, you feel secure in school.”
After Harvey’s death, then home secretary Yvette Cooper said that she would support schools in the use of knife arches.
But there remains no official government policy or national guidance on their use.
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Some headteachers who spoke with Sky News feel knife arches aren’t the answer – saying the issue required a societal approach.
Others said knife arches themselves were a significant expense to schools.
But Mrs Crook says they are “well worth the funding” if they prevent “a student making a catastrophic decision”.
“I’m a parent and, of course, my focus every day is keeping our students safe, just as I want my son to be kept safe in his setting and his school.”
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Mrs Crook says she thinks schools would “welcome” a discussion at “national level” about the use of knife arches and other knife-related deterrents in schools.
“It’s sad, though that this is what it’s come to, that we’re having lockdown drills in the UK, in our school settings.
“But I suppose some might argue that has been needed for a long time.”
